[Server-devel] Double classroom capacity of your $19 TP-LINK WR841 WiFi Router(s)

[Adam Holt]

On Feb 16, 2016 7:07 AM, "Adam Holt" <holt at laptop.org> wrote:
>
> On Feb 16, 2016 6:09 AM, "T Gillett" <tgillett at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Understood.
> >
> > In the meantime the remix firmware is available if anyone wants to use
an OpenWrt build for the WR841 which has been set up to work out-of-the-box
with the XSCE.
> >
> > The advantage of using the OpenWrt build compared to the OEM firmware
is primarily that it has been shown to support 30+ concurrent wifi
connections.
>
> Thank you Terry!
>
> I will document this for mass consumption within
http://schoolserver.org/FAQ in coming days: which authoritative
documentation/download links do you want included?

Terry,

Feel free also to refine our central FAQ directly:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/FAQ#How_do_I_provide_Wi-Fi_.28wireless.29_to_all_my_kids.3F

I will expand this in coming months to cover the most common nanodeployment
and microdeployment scenarios -- as you know less-technical staff get
stuck, even when trying their best in a foreign language (English!)

> TBD: hopefully soon including Tim Moody's scripting to auto-install this
major enhancement, when that becomes more bulletproof for broad consumption.
>
> Perhaps also delineating what WR841 firmware/configuration folks most
recommend for non-XSCE users??
>
> (Am cc'ing more mailing lists as Tony and others get a chance to bang on
this, refine it, promote wider usage..whether TP-LINK wants us "doubling"
the connection capacity of its low-end Wi-Fi router/AP or not ;)
>
> > On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 7:02 PM, Tony Anderson <tony_anderson at usa.net>
wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi, Terry
> >>
> >> I haven't had a chance to work on this - possibly next week. My
current focus is on completing the process to install content from BERNIE.
> >> I think the CLI strategy would be the best route to keep the
configuration process within reach of a deployer.
> >>
> >> Sadly, I have had to move away from usbmount on the CentOS 7 XSCE
image from last year. Now, I have a process using CLI primarily to deal
> >> with using root permissions during the install.
> >>
> >> Usbmount still has the advantage of executing as root. However, with
the install of 600+GB itself taking hours, the advantages of usbmount audio
> >> signals is are lost. Using CLI allows the deployer to monitor progress
via SSH.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> Tony
> >>
> >>
> >> On 02/16/2016 02:02 PM, T Gillett wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hi Tony
> >>>
> >>> Just wondering how you going with the WR841 configuration?
> >>>
> >>> A few things that might be relevant / useful:
> >>>
> >>> 1. If you have not already come across this, the OpenWrt firmware
supports making changes to the configuration files from the command line
using the UCI commands. Basically you can set and get individual parameters
in the configuration files.
> >>> This provides an alternative to replacing the files.
> >>> Example below:
> >>>
> >>>   # uci set network.lan.ipaddr="172.18.126.102"
> >>>   # uci commit network
> >>>
> >>> These commands set the IP address parameter in the "lan" stanza of
the "network" config file, and then saves the change.
> >>>
> >>> This might be useful for making the changes from the XSCE server by
way of a ssh or telnet session.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> 2. The "wireless" config file on these devices in OpenWrt refers to
the physical radio by its MAC address in the "device" stanza.
> >>> This effectively prevents you from just replacing the file with a
generic file common to all devices.
> >>>
> >>> You can also address the radio by means of an alternate "phy0"
address construct in the config file, which is what we do in the SECN
firmware to avoid the use of the MAC address at all.
> >>>
> >>> Alternatively you can use the UCI commands to effectively edit the
original file on the device.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> 3. I have updated the remix firmware that I made for Sora to bring it
up to date with the latest version of OpenWrt 15.05 so that now it includes
hardware versions 8, 9 and 10.
> >>>
> >>> The firmware is available here:
> >>>
http://download.villagetelco.org/firmware/secn/unstable/tp-link/SECN-4/XSCE/RC1/
> >>>
> >>> I have tested this firmware on a Ver 10 device.
> >>>
> >>> Attached are some screenshots that show the GUI and the default
settings for the firmware.
> >>> Also a shot of the Status page which shows a count and list of wifi
connected devices.
> >>>
> >>> The firmware sets the default IP address of the device to
172.18.126.101, with the wifi SSID set to "Internet_in_a_Box" with no
encryption.
> >>>
> >>> There are two accounts on the box - root and admin - with the
password "g0adm1n".
> >>> The admin account only has access to the web interface while the root
account also has access to the CLI.
> >>>
> >>> There is also a Fallback IP address (172.31.255.254 Netmask
255.255.255.252) running on the device so that you can always connect to it
from a PC configured to IP 172.31.255.253 Netmask 255.255.255.252,
regardless of how the main IP has been set up.
> >>>
> >>> If you wanted to flash your WR841 devices with the remix firmware,
the basic parameters for the XSCE application are set up and it would then
be a fairly simple matter to adjust the remaining parameters like IP
address using the UCI commands from the XSCE server via ssh.
> >>>
> >>> I appreciate that the web GUI is redundant in this scenario, but it
does provide an alternate option in case a user has to access the box to
make some adjustment or recovery.
> >>>
> >>> Regards
> >>> Terry
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> n Sun, Feb 7, 2016 at 10:05 AM, Tony Anderson <tony_anderson at usa.net>
wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks. This looks like exactly what I need to simplify (and
complete) the configuration process. It may be a few days before I can
> >>>> test it but I have some routers to test here (and the need to
install them).
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks again,
> >>>>
> >>>> Tony
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